How many covenants has God made with the people of Israel?

Let’s look at what the Bible tells us on this important subject on the covenants.

God made a covenant with Noah.

Gen 9:11  Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Gen 9:12  And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

Gen 9:13  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

God made a covenant with Abram.

Gen 15:18  On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates

The covenant in more detail between Abraham and God.

Gen 17:4  “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.

Gen 17:5  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

Gen 17:6  I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

Gen 17:7  And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Gen 17:8  Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Gen 17:9  And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Gen 17:10  This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;

Gen 17:11  and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Gen 17:12  He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.

The conditions of the covenant was that the male children from 8 days old be circumcised.

Gen 17:10  This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;

Gen 17:11  and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Gen 17:12  He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.

If the male children were not circumcised then they had broken the covenant.

Gen 17:14  And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Peter spoke about the covenant in his sermon.

Act 3:25  You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’

The covenant which God made with Abraham, would be carried on through Isaac.

Gen 17:19  Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

God made the covenant of the Ten Commandments, statutes and laws with Israel.

Exo 24:7  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.”

Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”

Exo 24:12  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

Exo 34:27  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

God then added a further covenant for the people of Israel.

Deu 29:1  These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

The Israelites did not have a heart to know nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

Deu 29:4  Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.

The Israelites were fed on manna so that they would know that the Lord is God. They should have realised that God was providing for them during all the years of wandering. They also did not eat meat, because they were learning the milk of the word during their wanderings for 40 years.

Deu 29:6  You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.

God wanted Israel to obey Him and reap the benefits.

Deu 30:8  And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today.

Deu 30:9  The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,

Deu 30:10  if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deu 30:11  “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.

Deu 30:15  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,

Deu 30:16  in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

However to disobey God would mean many curses.

Deu 30:17  But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,

Deu 30:18  I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Deu 29:21  And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,

The old covenant made with the Nation of Israel was built on physical blessings for physical obedience. If people obeyed they were blessed physically. The penalties for breaking the laws, were severe, and God executed punishment without mercy.

Heb 10:28  Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

However, the people did not have ears to hear or eyes to see and they disobeyed God and did not keep His commandments. The penalties for breaking the covenant will have to be paid in the future and will be the time of Jacob’s Trouble.

Jer 11:8  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”

God said He would make a new covenant with His chosen people, He would write His laws on their hearts and they would have ears to hear and eyes to see.

The blessings for obeying God’s spiritual law is that we receive the earnest of the spirit which is the down payment for eternal life.

Eph 1:13  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Eph 1:14  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

The old covenant was built on physical obedience, which would give physical riches, and blessings.

The new covenant is spiritual belief and obedience, which will give spiritual riches in the form of eternal life with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Being rich towards God is what is important in this life.

Luk 12:20  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

Luk 12:21  “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

If we show we believe God and obey Him we will then receive eternal life when we receive the Holy Spirit of power. How amazing is the love and mercy of God. God will deal with His people with mercy.

Jer 31:31  “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah

Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

Jer 31:33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Jer 31:34  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jer 32:39  then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.

Jer 32:40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.

Jer 32:41  Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’

Jer 32:42  “For thus says the LORD: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

Jer 32:43  And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

Jer 32:44  Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,’ says the LORD.”

In the future God will deliver Israel when He forgives their sins.

Rom 11:27  FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

God made a covenant with David, that he would always have a descendant on the throne, and that the Levites would continue in the ministry.

Jer 33:20  “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,

Jer 33:21  then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

Jer 33:22  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

Mal 2:4  Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue,” Says the LORD of hosts.

When Israel returns from captivity, God makes a covenant of peace with them.

Eze 34:25  “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

When Israel returns from captivity, after Jacob’s trouble, God takes away all the wild animals and the sword, and God’s people will find peace.

Hos 2:18  In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.

The new covenant is explained by Paul.

Heb 8:6  But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

Heb 8:7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

Heb 8:8  Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH

Heb 8:9  NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

Heb 8:10  FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

Notice the following scripture which states that we will have eternal life under the new covenant. Remember we receive the down payment of eternal life when we receive the earnest of the Spirit, then we receive eternal life inherent when we show God that we believe Him and obey Him, then we receive the Holy Spirit of power. This is eternal life inherent, when we have that. Of course, we must endure until the end and continue to overcome and grow, but once we do that and God so desires us to be made into spirit beings, then we receive our inheritance.

Heb 9:15  And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Heb 9:16  For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

Heb 9:17  For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

Heb 9:18  Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

Heb 12:24  to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Heb 13:20  Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Today, we must still keep the commandments, which are the laws of God. We must believe Him and obey Him. This in itself will still bring physical blessings.

Today we are under the new covenant of spiritual blessings for spiritual obedience.

The Israelites did not have the eyes to see or the ears to hear.

God has enabled us to hear Him and understand Him through His calling, and the giving of the earnest of the Holy Spirit.

The earnest of the spirit is the down payment for eternal life.

Once we continue on in our spiritual lives and demonstrate to God that we love Him, obey Him, and believe Him, He will give us the requirement of eternal life…our inheritance, which is eternal life. This is the Holy Spirit of power.

This new covenant is all made possible by the death of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of sins for us. The new covenant is made possible by the shedding of blood and the death of Christ.

Footnote:

God will show His end time church a great deal of new knowledge. The laws and statutes will be restored in the time of the end. The knowledge of the covenants will be known by those who fear Him.

Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.